Upon assuming office, the Minnis administration stated in the Speech from the Throne: “My government will, with the consent of the electorate in a referendum, constitute an independent Electoral Commission and Boundaries Commission, introduce term limits for prime ministers and introduce a system of recall for non-performing members of Parliament.
“The Office of Ombudsman will be created to provide a direct source of relief, where people have legitimate grievances due to the actions or inactions of government or any agency of the government.”
None of that has been achieved, or even attempted by the government – not in the time prior to the twin crises (Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19) which it blames for its failure to fulfill significant pledges – or after.
Free National Movement Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis, now prime minister, had long expressed his support for an independent Constituencies Commission.
After the Constitutional Review Commission presented its report to Prime Minister Christie in July 2013, Minnis, then leader of the official opposition, told reporters, “I’m a staunch supporter of democracy and I believe that every Bahamian has a right to vote for whomever he or she chooses in a transparent, non-victimized, free fashion.
“An independent Boundaries Commission would allow for the transparency of democracy to flourish without political interference trying to gerrymander boundary lines for political advantage.”
But we know that in politics, as in other spheres, mouth can say plenty.
And that goes for mouths on both sides of the political aisle.
During debate on the official report of the Constituencies Commission on November 29, 2011, Philip Brave Davis, who became deputy prime minister after the 2012 general election victory of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), and who is today leader of the official opposition, stated, “The Progressive Liberal Party is committed to the creation of an independent Elections Commission to organize all elections in The Bahamas and to regularly review and establish constituency boundaries possibly following the decennial National Census with the creation of a permanent register of voters disregarding the requirement for electors to have to register every five years and for members of the House of Assembly to decide on boundary delineations.”
In 2002, the first constitutional referendum – which occurred under the Ingraham administration very near to a general election – addressed gender equality, the need for an independent Constituencies Commission and other issues.
That failed – 57,291 voters said ‘no’ to an independent commission and 30,903 voted yes.
While it supported the referendum bills in Parliament, the PLP, sensing the unpopularity of the Ingraham administration, campaigned heavily against the referendum.
In 2016, the Christie administration also took a crack at constitutional reform, focusing on gender equality.
The constitutional referendum also became a referendum on the government.
It too failed miserably.
Recommendations
On the issue of an independent Constituencies Commission, the Constitutional Review Commission, which was chaired by former Attorney General Sean McWeeney, proposed merging the functions of elections management and boundaries review into a single Electoral and Boundaries Commission, which would be a constitutionally entrenched body whose members have security of tenure and constitutional autonomy and protection similar to standing service commissions.
The person formerly occupying the office of parliamentary commissioner would be a chief electoral officer functioning under the aegis of the commission.
The constitutional commission emphasized in its report that there should not be the participation of any member of the judiciary, as it believed that allocating this function to a judge is violative of the separation of powers principle.
“In fact, the commission has heard from judges who have publicly expressed their distaste for having to perform this function which inevitably places them in a tug-of-war between the contending political parties with the attendant risk of being accused of showing political favortism or bias,” the McWeeney commission stated in its report.
In 2017, the Organization of American States (OAS) Electoral Observation Mission said in its report on The Bahamas general election that while the 2016/2017 boundary delimitation process was not a highly politicized issue in the 2017 general election, it was nevertheless the subject of some concern – including challenges raised before the courts.
“The Mission recognizes that the composition of the Constituencies Commission is established by the constitution. However, the commission’s predominantly partisan makeup suggests the need for additional measures to strengthen public confidence in the transparency and integrity of the decisions taken by this body,” the OAS Mission said.
“The Mission, therefore, reiterates the recommendation of the 2012 OAS Mission, that The Bahamas consider mechanisms to enhance the impartiality and independence of the boundary drawing process, including the introduction of standardized legal and technical criteria in the drawing of constituencies and the inclusion of uniform criteria in the selection of boundary commissioners.
“In this latter regard, commissioners responsible for boundary delimitation should be demonstrably non-partisan, possess the necessary technical expertise and have access to permanent training and professionalization.”
In an interview with National Review yesterday, McWeeney said an independent Constituencies Commission remains necessary.
“I think it’s something we should continue to aspire to because it really is the most highly evolved form of boundaries commission that we could have, something which is truly independent, seen to be independent, functions independently and I think the great value of it is it boosts public confidence in the integrity of the electoral system,” he said.
“If, on the other hand, people feel – bearing in mind how politically divided we are as a country – that whichever government is in power, whichever party is in power is the one that gets to hold the scissors and to cut the boundaries however the prime minister may think fit, that’s not exactly designed to inspire public confidence.”
We asked McWeeney whether he feels that the work of his commission – which reported on the 40th anniversary of our country’s independence – was a wasted effort.
“No,” he replied.
“I think what we ended up with is a constitutional report which will continue to serve as a blueprint for constitutional reform whenever a government gets around to it, whenever the government has the courage to press it forward. It’s there waiting to be adopted. You don’t need to appoint another constitutional commission. It’s all there in black and white.”
McWeeney added, “At some point, the government is going to blow the dust off of it and say ‘let’s start to implement some of these things’.
“I think the moral of the story from the last two constitutional referenda is you better try hard to do these things as early in your term as possible before you become unpopular, because once you become unpopular it’s way too late; people would just use the referendum as a stick to beat you with for other things.”
The post Lip service to electoral reform appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/lip-service-to-electoral-reform/
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